Nagpur: Range forest officer (RFO) Deepali Chavan (32) of Harisal in Gugamal division of Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR), Amravati, died by suicide on Thursday. She shot herself with her service revolver.
The Dharni police have recovered a suicide note from the spot, in which Deepali has accused a deputy conservator of forests (DyCF) for his high-handedness.
The RFO was alone in her quarters when she ended her life. Her mother had left for Satara and husband Rajesh was in Chikhaldara, where he works on deputation with the treasury department.
Talking to TOI, Amravati SP Hari Balaji confirmed, “The suicide note clearly blames the DyCF for the victim taking the extreme step by shooting herself in the chest. A case of abetment to suicide under IPC 306 is likely to be registered against the officer.”
Deepali was known as ‘Melghat’s Singham’, and looking at her fighting spirit no one believed she would take such an extreme step. She was dashing and performed her duties fearlessly when it came to nabbing wildlife criminals and protection and removal of illegal encroachments, a chronic problem in MTR.
She was instrumental in removing encroachments in Harisal range and earlier in Dhulghat, also in MTR. For her bold actions, she also faced atrocity cases, which are still pending in Achalpur court. Her tenure has seen several ups and downs.
According to reliable sources, a day earlier, the deputy conservator had visited Harisal and scolded the RFO after he noticed some waterholes were not filled with water even as summer had set in.
She seems to have decided to end her life after this. Earlier, she had written to Melghat field director seeking his intervention. However, the deputy conservator too was a disciplinarian and did not tolerate negligence from the staff.
Deepali’s mother used to frequently visit her from Satara. On Thursday morning, she sent her mother back to Satara. After her mother left, she called her husband about her decision to end life, but before her husband could do something she killed herself.
When some forest staff, alerted by her husband, reached her quarter, they found the RFO lying in a pool of blood and her service revolver lying beside her. Sources say after her suicide was discovered no one was allowed to enter the quarter for almost 1.5 hours.
Deepali was taken to Harisal primary health centre, from where she was shifted to Dharni, but was declared ‘brought dead’ by doctors.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Forest Rangers Association (MFRA) has demanded a thorough probe into the case, saying those responsible should be taken up sternly.